Report on the response to the Executive's review of the financial process in Northern Ireland : together with the minutes of proceedings of the Committee relating to the report, minutes of evidence, w

The Executive's public revenue and expenditure process takes place in the context of the wider UK control and management framework. The current process has existed in Northern Ireland for a considerable time and is based on an outdated Westminster model. The various components of the process serve different purposes and have developed over the years in individual directions resulting in significant misalignment between Budgets, Estimates and Accounts. Therefore, while based on the same basic dataset, the figurework in Budgets, Estimates and Accounts, although reconcilable, does not meet the Assembly's expectations in relation to transparency. Assembly members have expressed frustration with trying to understand sets of financial information that are calculated on a different basis and/or different boundaries, making it difficult to track spend from plans to outturn. This also limits the ability of Committees and members to challenge departments effectively. The Executive considered it was time to take stock and review the entire financial process with the objective of agreeing a simplified and streamlined process tailormade to meet the requirements of the devolved administration. Having considered the views of key stakeholders and the available evidence this report presents the initial recommendations. It must be emphasised that these recommendations, while indicating a direction of travel, are largely an effort to focus minds on the key areas for improvement and to kindle debate on the issues and possible reforms